Boy killed by falling palm tree

HESPERIA • A 15-year-old boy was killed Tuesday night when a 30-foot palm tree fell on him outside his family's home, county sheriff-coroner's officials said.

Moises Casas was taking out the trash when the tree toppled over, a San Bernardino County Sheriff's news release stated. Sheriff's investigators estimated that the tree weighed up to 700 pounds.

Paramedics responding to a 911 call reporting the accident at 6:58 p.m. found the boy suffering from severe head injuries. They pronounced Moises dead at 7:06 p.m.

"It' just a horrible, horrible accident," Sandy Fatland, spokeswoman for the county Sheriff-Coroner's Division, said Tuesday morning by phone.

The boy's parents were in another part of the yard doing chores when they heard the tree fall. Ventura and Martha Casas turned to see their son under the tree.

The Oak Hills High School student would have turned 16 later this month.

"It's hard to believe, it's an accident where no one could have done anything," Ventura Casas said in Spanish. "It happened so fast that he didn't have time to run."

A wind gust or moist soil could have caused the tree to fall but a specific cause probably will never be determined, Fatland said. Winds in the area on Monday evening were reported to be between 3 and 12 mph.

The boy's father had planted the tree at the home in the 14000 block of Zircon Street over the weekend, according to a sheriff's department news release.

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Daily Press staff photographer David Pardo contributed to this report.